Will You Have War?
by LadyQuaintrelle
Summary: Letters exchanged between Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm, and the wilful mortal Queen he has set his sights on.
1. Chapter 1

_Written at Iethana_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Elvenking,_

 _I believe I have found a solution to our predicament. I return to you the white gems of Lasgalen which you prize so highly, gifting them to you in the same pristine condition in which they were passed to me through my mother and grandmother._

 _You will grant me this one favour: that you keep your renewed ownership of them private, that none in my court or my kingdom may be any the wiser. To this end, I have had replicas made for my own adornment, so that the jewels which have long symbolised the royal house of my people may be seen still as a talisman by my countrymen._

 _Having relinquished the gems into your keeping, I consider the matter closed. Naturally there will be no further necessity for talk of a marriage arrangement._

 _I wish you well, Elvenking._

 _By her own hand,_

 _Berwe, Queen in Iethana._

 _Written at Mirkwood_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Berwe,_

 _A brave attempt. I applaud it._

 _However, you will marry me, gems be **damned** , if I have to march my army to your gates, lay siege to your palace, and drag you in chains to my realm to kneel before my throne._

 _I trust I make myself clear?_

 _By his own hand,_

 _Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm._


	2. Chapter 2

_Written at Iethana_

 _On this day-_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Elvenking,_

 _I must confess myself astonished at your letter. I find your response both inexplicable and unreasonable. Your wife's gems - precious to you beyond measure - being once more within your grasp, and my relinquishing my claim upon them; indeed, my having conceded on all points … I fully expected you to be relishing your victory._

 _A marriage alliance between us was only put forward as a solution to our mutual claim to the gems of Lasgalen, an alternative to the war you seemed so ready to begin. I have given up the symbol of my house, the very sigil on my coat of arms, the heirloom passed from mother to daughter in an unbroken chain for two millennia - I have done all this, in order to avoid an arrangement distasteful to us both._

 _You have what you wanted, Elvenking. Be satisfied and have done._

 _By her own hand,_

 _Berwe, Queen in Iethana._


	3. Chapter 3

_Written at Mirkwood_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Berwe,_

 _Thank you for the return of my gems. I look forward to the day when they will once more be in their rightful home, when I place them about your lovely throat._

 _I too, expected to be celebrating a victory. That I am not is due to the uncomfortable discovery of something I desire even more than the white gems of pure starlight I have coveted for thousands of years._

 _Lady, I will relish my triumph when my ring is on your finger, you have vowed yourself to me, and have spent the first night of the rest of your life in my bed - and only then._

 _By his own hand, and in anticipation,_

 _Thranduil, King._


	4. Chapter 4

_Written at Iethana_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Has anyone actually told you "No" before, Elvenking? Your arrogance is astounding. The very fact that I gave up the Lasgalen jewels, something infinitely precious and meaningful to me, should tell you how little I desire to be bound to a man so proud, cold and self-centered._

 _You may desire me - I neither know nor care whether that is true. No doubt such feelings will be fleeting. For the first time in your long existence, Thranduil, King, you have seen something which you cannot simply purchase, charm to your side or take by force. I trust you may profit from the experience._

 _By her own hand,_

 _Berwe, Queen in Iethana, Lady of Steel and Flame, Watcher at the Gate._


	5. Chapter 5

_**Written at Mirkwood,**_

 _ **On this day -**_

 _ **Of the - Age**_

 _ **My Lady of Steel and Flame,**_

 _ **May I remind you of when we first met? It seems that you and I remember the Delegation of Diplomacy at Rivendell very differently.**_

 _ **I have looked into your eyes, held you in my arms, been seared through and through by the firestorm which lives inside you - did you really think that I would let you go? You have concerns about this...relationship; I understand that. But do not hide behind the walls of your pride to hurt us both. I will cut them down.**_

 _ **Do not think to escape me. You may find my temper unpleasant. And, Berwe - you know not me if you think such language as you are adopting in your letters affects me in any other way than to add a delicious spice of challenge to our communication.**_

 _ **By his own hand,**_

 _ **Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm, King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood, Greatest Warrior of this, or any other, Age. (I can throw titles around, too, my petulant love)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Written at The Silver Citadel, Iethana_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Do not seek to intimidate me, Thranduil, King of Mirkwood. My courage always rises with every attempt to do so. You do not command me - you are not my King. Save your tyrannical tendencies for your own kin, assuming they can bear them. I am your equal in rank and station, and would have met you at the head of mine army to defend the honour of my house, if I had not more care for my people than I do for baubles._

 _I would not bring war, with all its wrath and ruin, on my people's heads, and yet you try me sorely. Ours is a proud race, the ruling family perhaps especially, and I have not been used to being addressed in the way you make free so to do. Therefore, I think it best that all communication between us now cease, for the benefit of all._

 _Content yourself with your gems, Elvenking, and look not to my borders with weighing eyes. I defend my own._

 _Berwe, Queen._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Written in the Woodland Realm**_

 _ **On this day -**_

 _ **Of the - Age**_

 _ **I grow weary of this game we are playing, precious.**_

 _ **STOP prevaricating.**_

 _ **Best come to me willingly, for by the Valar, I will have no mercy.**_

 _ **What will it be, Berwe, Queen in Iethana, Lady of Steel and Flame, Watcher at the Gate?**_

 _ **Will you have war, or peace?**_

 _ **By his own hand,**_

 _ **Thranduil, Elvenking.**_


	8. Chapter 8

_Written at The Silver Citadel, Iethana,_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 ** _I will have war._**

 _By her own hand,_

 _Berwe, Queen in Iethana._


	9. Chapter 9

**_Written in the Woodland Realm_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _So be it._**

 ** _By his own hand,_**

 ** _Thranduil, Elvenking._ **


	10. Chapter 10

_Written in The Silver Citadel, Iethana_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Withdraw your forces immediately, Thranduil. How dare you enter my sovereign territory?_

 _By her own hand,_

 _Berwe, Storm and Ruination._


	11. Chapter 11

_**Written encamped outside The Silver Citadel,**_

 _ **On this day -**_

 _ **Of the - Age**_

 _ **My pet, you practically invited me.**_

 _ **By his own hand,**_

 _ **Thranduil.** _


	12. Chapter 12

_Written in the Silver Citadel_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _You are insane with arrogance. I told you once that I would not see you consume my kingdom through a half-breed heir of my body - do you really think I will surrender it to you now? Not so much as a foot of land, Elvenking, nor one border-town!_

 _By her own hand,_

 _Berwe, Storm and Ruination._


	13. Chapter 13

**_Written encamped outside The Silver Citadel, Iethana_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _Have a care, my tigress._**

 ** _You persist in the belief that I desire you only for your kingdom? Or is that simply the lie you tell yourself so that you will sleep well at night, knowing that you have needlessly brought the clamour of war to your people?_**

 ** _I am not here for conquest of land. You know this. But I mean to hold you to your word - the word you swore to me in Rivendell. Not one heartbeat of our time there do I forget, you may be sure, and I will not allow you to, either._**

 ** _If your stubbornness requires that these aims be met through a show of force, then I am ready and willing._**

 ** _I remain, Lady,_**

 ** _Yours._ **


	14. Chapter 14

_Written in The Silver Citadel_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _You are deluded. What passed between us at Rivendell was merely my scheme of playing for time so that I could find a way to extricate myself from the entanglement which threatened to ensnare us both. You should be grateful._

 _If you think that invading my lands and threatening my people is the way to soften my heart, Elvenking, you are mightily mistaken._


	15. Chapter 15

**_Written encamped outside The Silver Citadel_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _The cries of your people as they hunger will soften your pride soon enough, my Queen._**

 ** _By his own hand,_**

 ** _Thranduil, King._**


	16. Chapter 16

_Written in The Silver Citadel,_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Attempt to breach my walls. You will break on them as water does on rock. My archers do not claim to have the skill of the Woodland Elves, but their arrows fly straight and true. How much Elvish blood will be spilled in this fruitless pursuit of yours, Elvenking? I would not have thought you willing to spend one drop of the blood of your kin over a "little mortal" - is that not what you once called me?_

 _Or waste your time in besieging The Citadel. We are well prepared and provisioned. I will not yield._

 _By my own hand,_

 _Berwe, Storm and Ruination._


	17. Chapter 17

**_Written encamped outside The Silver Citadel_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _I am patient. I can wait._**

 ** _By my own hand,_**

 ** _Thranduil, The Great King._**


	18. Chapter 18

_Written in The Silver Citadel_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Thranduil, this is madness._

 _By my own hand,_

 _Berwe._


	19. Chapter 19

_**Written encamped outside The Silver Citadel**_

 _ **On this day -**_

 _ **Of the - Age**_

 _ **Madness of your own making, my sweet life.**_

 _ **I warned you of what your senseless pride would summon in me.**_

 _ **The remedy is within the power of your hand, and none other.**_

 _ **By my own hand,**_

 _ **Thranduil.**_


	20. Chapter 20

_Written in The Silver Citadel_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _I see that Greyhame - the one you call Mithrandir - spoke true when he said that the Woodland Elves are less wise and more dangerous than their kin in the West._

 _Your lack of wisdom **makes** you dangerous. _

_By my own hand,_

 _Berwe._


	21. Chapter 21

**_Written encamped at The Silver Citadel,_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _What do you know of wisdom, mortal child? Nothing!_**

 ** _Come to me when you have seen all the Ages of this world rise and fall. When you have seen stars burst into radiant life, and die, writhing, millenniums later._**

 ** _Tell me, gwinig_** _("little one", Sindarin)_ _,_ ** _when did you lead your people to battle, and watch them fall, their blood leaching into the indifferent earth? Have you lead a broken, valiant minority wearily homeward, and kept them safe through merely the force of your own will, burrowing through wood and stone to create halls of protection and dignity?_**

 ** _Have you seen the horror of Mordor? Fought the shadow with your every breath? Borne the cares of your people between your ribs for all the lives of men?_**

 ** _When you have...speak to me of 'wisdom' THEN._**

 ** _By my own hand,_**

 ** _Thranduil._**

For FantomPhan33 ***waves***


	22. Chapter 22

For: ThatOtherWriterGirl. See? I learn.

* * *

 _Written in The Silver Citadel_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _All you have proved, Elvenking, is that you have lived the long life of your people. It is only an accident of birth that I was born human and therefore denied that same privilege._

 _Yet even in my short time drawing breath, I have seen and experienced much. I do not think that advanced age necessarily brings wisdom along with it, and your decisions to date only add weight to that theory._

 _If you were truly the superior being you claim to be, you would take the wise course for all concerned, and cease this foolishness before the situation deteriorates further. Would that not be the mature decision of the more experienced, prescient ruler? Clearly, you believe me to be lacking in those qualities. Which makes me wonder at your alleged interest in someone so obviously undeserving of your lofty attention._

 _I cannot be the one to blink, Elvenking, as that would mean I acknowledge your claim on me. And that, I utterly refuse to do. Only you can break this impasse we have come to._

 _By my own hand,_

 _Berwe._


	23. Chapter 23

**_Written encamped at The Silver Citadel_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _Think how bored you would be if I left you to your own devices, my pet._**

 ** _With no one to challenge you._**

 ** _Your soul would be crying out for me soon enough._**

 ** _What kind of monster would I be to condemn you to such a fate?_**

 _ **By my own hand,**_

 _ **Thranduil.**_


	24. Chapter 24

_Written in The Silver Citadel_

 _On this day -_

 _Of the - Age_

 _Your self-assurance never ceases to astound, Elvenking._

 _All that would happen in the happy event of your leaving me to my own devices, is my returning to rule my people to the best of my ability, and henceforth avoiding all dealings with Elves as though they were Sauron himself._

 _Do not project your own issues onto me, Thranduil, King. I do not need to be challenged in order to counteract boredom, or to feel alive. One of the benefits of a relatively short, fixed lifespan - there is rarely the time nor the inclination to be bored, especially when one carries the fate of a people in one's hands._

 _Is that the secret of your kind, Elvenking? Do you envy us our mortality? We burn swift and fierce, but, oh - we burn bright! A sharp contrast to your cool, perfect stillness. I can well imagine your wonder, your mistrust, your jealousy. How you covet what you affect to despise. Your overwhelming desire to capture the flame, strain it close in an attempt to warm yourself in its heat, even to catch fire yourself._

 _I understand. I pity you. How can you possibly know what it is to **feel** , to drown in sensation to the very depths of your being? It is the great gift and curse of my kind, Elf-lord. Each moment is infinitely precious, because it may be our last. We experience everything - everything - with increased fervour, with an insatiable lust for each breath, **because** we are doomed. How could you hope to understand the intensity at which I exist? You, who will see the woodlands of Middle Earth wither and fade, who will forsake all you once knew of the world of Men for the Undying Lands? Who will go on existing, even then, until the breaking of the world and the night falls without stars._

 _The fire within me is mine to give to whom I wish, Elvenking. You may not warm yourself at it._

 _By my own hand,_

 _Berwe, Lady of Steel and Flame._


	25. Chapter 25

**_Written encamped at The Silver Citadel_**

 ** _On this day -_**

 ** _Of the - Age_**

 ** _I am continually amused by your inability to see matters from any other perspective than your own. And you accuse me of arrogance! Nevertheless, a blinkered, limited world-view is only to be expected from a member of your kind - earth-bound and short-lived as you are - and you have demonstrated far greater potential in empathy and discernment than any other mortal I have encountered, so I do not repine. _**

**_There are many mistaken opinions in your last that I could take issue with, but I shall limit myself to addressing the two most pressing. I did not bring an inexhaustible supply of parchment with me on this campaign, after all._**

 ** _Think you I do not burn? That I do not feel as profoundly, as intensely as you do? Ú-thand!_** ("Untrue!" - Sindarin) ** _You believe that your emotions and experiences are more vivid than those of Elves because your time is fleeting and you claw desperately with the tips of your fingers at each moment as they pass you by; I tell you that my 'cool, perfect stillness', as you so dismissively refer to it, curses me with a depth and ferocity of feeling, the weight of which you could not possibly survive under._**

 ** _I may not flame visibly, as you do - though you know better than anyone that there are exceptions to that rule - but my furnace is all the hotter for being confined. My long years have taught me control over my emotions, and to disguise them when it is politic to do so, not to escape their influence altogether: I am aware of every leaf that falls in my woods. The hidden places speak to me. I guard against the end of even one of my noss_** ("kindred" - Sindarin) ** _. I am attached to my son by an invisible chain, wherever he may roam. I feel your heartbeat inside my own. I am King; to be always at the mercy of one's emotions would be an unforgivable weakness, and inevitably catastrophic for my people. You must know something of this, Queen in Iethana. You too must feel the strain of always having to be strong and wise, even when all about you is in chaos. This is what rulers do. This is who we are. _**

**_Your emotions, impressions and memories are as the swiftly flowing river water - ever in motion, always changeable, curling and frothing furiously at the smallest obstacle or curve in its path. Mortals race to their end so quickly that they have neither the time, nor the capacity to truly feel all there is to feel in even one instant of life - they are always half in the next before this one is done._**

 ** _My emotions, impressions and memories, on the other hand, are as the eternal rocks beneath - solid, constant, enduring, changing little over millennia and weathering the fiercest storms. Elves have the time, and the depth of soul, to fully experience all the nuances contained within every instant of time. We do not hasten to the next. We allow our senses to expand to their uttermost to be saturated with each individual moment, even the terrible ones. This is our nature. Be grateful you do not have this ability, hiril vuin_** ("my beloved Lady" - Sindarin) ** _; you would be soul-struck, driven quite insane by the barrage of information your mind and heart would attempt to process._**

 ** _You are utterly mistaken. I have loved so deeply, so profoundly that, after it was taken from me, for millennia I could not go near it. I could not approach it, touch it. It was not to be talked about. I was encased in ice. It is only since your coming that I feel the ice begin to crack and thaw. You make me feel...you make me feel, and I do not know whether I should love it or loathe it. I want it to stop. NOW. I have a terrible suspicion that the ice, once melted, will release an never ending torrent, sweeping away all in its path. Blame and deride me for pursuing your warmth as a moth to the flame if you will - it is nothing I have not reproached and been ashamed of myself for. And yet I - I! - am powerless in the face of this awakening. You have sparked a chain reaction, which must perforce unfold unto its inevitable conclusion. _**

**_The other impertinent assertion of yours which I feel compelled to refute, is that you do not need to be challenged in order to feel alive. Did you really expect to slip such a blatant perversion of truth by me, that I would allow you to try and hoodwink me? Not even in our disagreements will I permit you to hide yourself from me, or to pretend to be anything other than you truly are. You forget, gwinig_** ("little one" - Sindarin) ** _\- I know you. I have observed how, with a flash of your magnificent eyes, your spirit rises to meet mine as we verbally spar. I was witness to your obvious relish for the cut and thrust of political debate at Rivendell. Challenge stimulates you, excites you, thrills you to your very toes, provides the spice that makes life interesting. Do NOT attempt to deny this. You were made for me. I will always challenge you. _**

**_Thranduil._**


End file.
